Arguing with Tradition: The Language of Law in Hopi Tribal Court

Paperback | August 1, 2008

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Arguing with Tradition is the first book to explore language and interaction within a contemporary Native American legal system. Grounded in Justin Richland’s extensive field research on the Hopi Indian Nation of northeastern Arizona—on whose appellate court he now serves as Justice Pro Tempore—this innovative work explains how Hopi notions of tradition and culture shape and are shaped by the processes of Hopi jurisprudence.

Like many indigenous legal institutions across North America, the Hopi Tribal Court was created in the image of Anglo-American-style law. But Richland shows that in recent years, Hopi jurists and litigants have called for their courts to develop a jurisprudence that better reflects Hopi culture and traditions. Providing unprecedented insights into the Hopi and English courtroom interactions through which this conflict plays out, Richland argues that tensions between the language of Anglo-style law and Hopi tradition both drive Hopi jurisprudence and make it unique. Ultimately, Richland’s analyses of the language of Hopi law offer a fresh approach to the cultural politics that influence indigenous legal and governmental practices worldwide.

About The Author

Justin B. Richland is associate professor of anthropology and the social sciences in the College at the University of Chicago.

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Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments

1 Introduction: Arguing with Tradition in Native America The Ironies of Indigeneity Native American Tribal Law and Tradition “Anglo” Law in Indian Country: Courts of Indian Offenses Tribal Courts Today: At the Edge of Tribal Sovereignty The Dearth of Ethnographies of Tribal Courts The Approach and Aims of This Study An Outline of This Study

2 Making a Hopi Nation: “Anglo” Law Comes to Hopi Country Hopi Tribal Governance Hopi Village Organization and Governance Court Comes to Hopi Country The Hopi Tribal Court Today Data and Methodologies: Talking Tradition in Hopi Property Disputes

3 “What are you going to do with the village’s knowledge?” Language Ideologies and Legal Power in Hopi Tribal Court Legal Discourse Analysis and Legal Power Language Ideologies, Metadiscourse, and Metapragmatics Talking Tradition, Talking Law in Hopi Courtroom Interactions The Language Ideologies of Anglo-American Law versus Hopi Traditional Authority Conclusion

4 “He could not speak Hopi. . . . That puzzle— puzzled me”: The Pragmatic Paradoxes of Hopi Tradition in Court Paradox in the Pragmatics of Language and Law Discourses of Cultural Difference in Hopi Court Iterations of Indigeneity in a Hopi Court Hearing Conclusion

5 Suffering into Truth: Hopi Law as Narrative Interaction Legal Narrativity in and out of Court A Model of Hopi Law as Narrative Interaction The Significance of Settings: Judicial Openings of Hopi Courtroom Narrative The Contested Narrativity of a Hopi Property Proceeding Conclusion

6 Conclusion: Arguments with Tradition Tradition, Culture, and the Politics of Authenticity Arguing with Tradition